Book Review-Time-Will-Tell

 

Time Will Tell 

(Button Jar  #2)

by

Fiona McCallum

Still small town Wattle Creek, Time Will Tell picks up where Saving Grace left off.  In fact both books only cover a period of about two months.

Emily struggles financially as she was bullied into signing a less than desirable financial settlement by husband John.  She regrets not consulting a lawyer and then repeats the same, or similar, mistake several more times.  In fact those times I found her decision making extremely frustrating.

Before the demise of her marriage, Emily had dreamed of opening a B&B in a small stone cottage on the farm, until John razed it to the ground.  This dream continued with her new home; however she was only renting, struggling and worrying about her finances, or lack thereof.

An option to purchase her rental, on good terms, was too good to pass and all seemed to be looking up, until….

Tragedy and a new love develop roughly, very roughly, about the same time.  Will the new love work out?  Only time will tell.

Again Narrator Jennifer Vuletic is to be showered with kudos for her narration and her character voices which aids greatly in identifying each character and therefore, the overall enjoyment of Time Will Tell.

Time Will Tell is book two of the Button Jar Trilogy and, therefore, is not my first nor will it be my last review of Fiona McCallum’s offerings.

If you enjoy Australian fiction, you will enjoy Fiona McCallum’s work.

Goodreads readers have rated

Time Will Tell 

an average of 

3.93 stars

from 415 ratings and 56 reviews 

 I have rated 

Time Will Tell

a solidread.

Time Will Tell 

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

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Book Review-Saving-Grace

 

Saving Grace 

(Button Jar  #1)

by

Fiona McCallum

Set in small town Wattle Creek, Saving Grace tells the story of Emily who marries John, the wealthy farmer’s son, and is supposed to live happily ever after.  It takes Emily three years to discover suitor John and husband John are divides apart.

Fortunately, or unfortunately it does not take her that long to realise the she does not want him to be father of her children.

She leaves John after he fires a shot at her only friend on their farm, her newly acquired Border Collie pup, Grace, who was out doing what Border Collie pups do…looking at some sheep.

Emily’s mother disapproves of her marriage breakdown as much as she approved her daughter ‘catching’ the wealthy farmer’s son.  Fortunately a new friend Barbara lends her the support she needs and helps set up a new home.

Narrator Jennifer Vuletic has to be applauded for her narration and her character voices.   Jennifer made the characters come to life.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Saving Grace and could identify with some of the small town issues attributed to Wattle Creek.

 

Saving Grace is not my first nor will it be my last as Saving Grace is Book one of a Button Jar Trilogy.  If you enjoy Australian fiction, you will enjoy Fiona McCallum’s offerings.

Goodreads readers have rated

Saving Grace

an average of 

3.81 stars

from 630 ratings and 79 reviews 

 I have rated 

Saving Grace

a solidread.

Saving Grace 

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-The-Farmer’s-Wife

 

The Farmer’s Wife 

(Jillaroo #2)

by

Rachael Treasure

Read: May 28, 2015

As you can see it has been a while since I read The Farmer’s Wife.  However most of my review was written at the time of reading.

The Farmer’s Wife was described to me as ‘chick lit’…and to a degree it was.  It was probably the first book I have read in which lead roles are female.

However, I enjoyed listening to this story and could relate to much of it after spending fifty years on a farm.  It’s not all about farming and at some points I was thinking ‘we could skip that’ but was enjoyable.

I found that I was familiar with some  of the towns regions mentioned int The Farmer’s Wife.  In my opinion this always makes a book a better read/listen.

I will look out for more of Rachel Treasure’s books.

A three and a half star (for the rural setting) read.  However, if you are not inclined to rural settings you may not enjoy this book.

On August 06, 2018

Goodreads readers have rated

The Farmer’s Wife 

an average of 

3.77 stars

from 594 ratings and 75 reviews 

 A solidread.

The Farmer’s Wife 

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-Hammer-of-God-Greig-Beck

Hammer of God

(Alex Hunter #5.5)

by

Greig Beck

 

Hammer of God commences with a nuclear explosion somewhere in Iraq.  Naturally this upset the status quo a coalition peace keeping force was trying to bring to the region.  To exacerbate the situation the last images from the area do not show and sign of an airborne device being used.  The only thing out-of-place is a huge man/person carrying a rather large package on its back right into ground zero.

Major Jack Hammerson and Alex hunter (The Arcadian), join forces with an old ally and Mossad spy Adira Senesh.  They are soon enmeshed in a story of ancient prophecies which appear to be true.

Again Greig Beck has written about the ancients and prophecies of evil and shaped it into a plausible storyline.   However it was not one of his best books I my opinion.  That may be entirely due to the subject of his story which are these giants walking around with nuclear devices strapped to their backs.  It was not until the first explosion that I remembered reading/listening to it about four years ago and I felt I was going through the motions of reading ‘because I had started the book’.  A book needs to be really bad (in my opinion) before I will discard before completing it.  Hammer of God was good enough to listen to a second time, but I find I am liking books which do not have monsters lurking…somewhere these days.  A sign of age?  Maybe.

******

I think

Hammer of God

 

is a

read.

***

In 2018,

Goodreads readers have rated

Hammer of God

 an average of 4.09 stars from

346 ratings and 28 reviews.

I am also surprised that so few have bothered

to rate and review this novel.

 

Hammer of God

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

Booktopia does not have Hammer of God.

Book Review-The-Immortality-Curse

The Immortality Curse

by

Greig Beck

(Matt Kearns #3)

 

Greig Beck always writes an enjoyable novel.  However, The Immortality Curse was better than one or two recent reads in as much as there were no real monsters starring in this book.  True, with a title like The Immortality Curse there just had to be one or two lurking around.

As a result of a few frames on a phone camera which survive incineration at a murder scene, Matt is put into contact with the main victim’s centenarian widow.  He had disappeared some seventy-five years early and he still looked, momentarily, the same age as when he disappeared.  He had been in search of the Fountain of Youth.

Shortly thereafter, as the title implies we find language specialist Matt Kearns, and colleagues, in pursuit of the Fountain of Youth.  Their search takes them to the wilderness of Canada’s north then on to Africa’s Lake Chad, which by powers of deduction and science they decide this was where Noah and his family lived during the Great Flood.  And where, naturally, Noah’s ark is to be found, along with any Fountain of Youth.

Naturally there are the usual twists along the way.  And what relic, either the Ark or the Fountain of Youth, would not have someone or something guarding it all these years.

A thoroughly enjoyable book made all the better by Sean Mangan’s narration.   All fans of Greig Beck and Sean Mangan will enjoy The Immortality Curse.  Published on 28 March 2017 I am surprised that so few Goodreads Readers have rated and reviewed The Immortality Curse.

As of May 06, 2018 very few GoodReads readers have either read, rated or reviewed The Immortality Curse.

******

I think

The Immortality Curseis a solid

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

The Immortality Curse

 an average of 4.13 stars from

184 ratings and 14 reviews.

The Immortality Curse

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-Fathomless

Fathomless

by

Greig Beck

 

Fathomless was definitely not my first Greig Beck novel, however, I did think it would be my last for while…. until…I digress.

For the first half or so of Fathomless I was definitely thinking that I had had enough of the world’s underwater monsters.  I think I have  five or six books now in which several  authors have set their story underground in different parts of the world.   At this stage Fathomless was only a three star read.  If it was your first novel of this genre then I believe you would be considering it a four or five-star read.  However, it was not my first.

 

Again we were underground in a world inhabited by what only can be described as monsters.  There was a great deal of Ho!  Hum!…at that stage.  We all know that some of the good guys survive.  They have to.  Who else would tell the tale?

This is the second book I have read, in 2018, where it appeared the story was over and the rest of the book would be acknowledgements…lots and lots.   Again I was wrong.  The twist which boosts a book from ordinary to wow was played.

Woven into this work of fact/fiction are the actions of a group of people who have a single-minded attitude to their cause and are not always correct as they believe.  I really wanted to throttle some of these characters.  Their arrogance was overwhelming and all I could think was that good should prevail.

 

Then just when you thought that the story had finished there is another, perhaps not a twist so much as a, revelation which is enough to make lovers of the sea to think twice before going for a swim.  Combine this revelation with some scientific facts and this reader’s thoughts were off on another journey; particularly as some of the revelations took place not far from where I have spent most of my life.

Again kudos to Sean Mangan for another five star narration.  He made the audio version of Fathomless an ideal book to listen to while driving.

 

Fathomless is a reasonably fast paced book and one which all fans of Grieg beck, will enjoy.

******

I think

Fathomless

is a solid

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Fathomless

 an average of 3.99 stars from

394 ratings and 55 reviews.

Fathomless

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-The-Baby-Farm

The Baby Farm

(Broken Vows Trilogy Book 2)

by

Marty Langenberg

The Baby Farm is the second book the Broken Vows Trilogy by Marty Langenberg and follows book 1.5, Pennie, the Prequel to The Baby Farm.

I have already stated in my review of Pennie that I am not a fan of short stories, however in this instance, while not completely necessary to read Pennie prior to The Baby Farm, Pennie does fill in some otherwise unknown detail of Pennie’s life and how she arrived at this point in her life.  Also bear in mind that Pennie was introduced in Book 1 of the Broken Vows Trilogy with her character being further developed in Pennie, Book 1.5.

For many years in Australia we have heard of the stolen generation. The ‘stolen generation’ being children of native Australians who were removed from their parents by the government of the day to be raised and educated by white Australian standards.

What has often annoyed me is the fact that there were/are many generations of white Australian children in the same position who are never described as stolen by society simple because they were children primarily of unwed teenage mothers. It was not until the early seventies that I first saw an unwed teenage mother with her child around my home town.

Prior to then girls often disappeared for a few months, usually to a capital city where they had their babies delivered and adopted.  Society of the time decreed they had brought shame on their families.

In writing The Baby Farm, Marty has addressed this issue head on.  The Baby Farm describes in detail what occurred to some of our young teenage/unmarried mothers of that era.  He has delved into the trauma these mothers underwent and also described the deviousness of people working in the name of religion, God and in this case St. Gerard (protector of mothers and children), to ‘help’ these mothers.

Thankfully there were some characters who offered real help and assistance to Pennie and her friend (Heather), preferring to see the real person and not forming an opinion based on current circumstances.

The Baby Farm is another fast paced read and one which again will have readers wanting to know what is going to happen in the next chapter.

Finally, I must declare that I know and worked with Marty

for several years before he retired.

However, I believe this has not clouded my review.

 

Definitely a

read.

Broken Vows

can be purchased on-line at 

Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Kobo, OverDrive